No Giggling Matter

On June 20, Not British, a three-piece rock band, was playing a party at a house in the College Area at around 9:00 p.m.

“As far as parties go, the place wasn’t packed,” says guitarist Sal Filipelli. “But enough people that probably make neighbors annoyed when they come and go, laughing and carrying on while they walk to their cars. I’m guessing we maxed out at 40 people packed into the living room at one point. Our drummer set up in the small kitchen. The bassist and I were in the dining room, trying to dodge a low-hanging chandelier.”

Not British ended up playing for another hour. The party thinned out to about 20 people, according to Filipelli, because there were other parties going on and because a neighbor had complained earlier and threatened to have cars towed and people arrested.

“She stood outside, and as people arrived she’d tell them she had already called the cops and they’d be in trouble. Some people would laugh in her face. Some ignored her or tried to apologize. One guy told me he flipped her off. One partygoer told me he had a warrant, and it wasn’t worth the risk sticking around.…

“At the end of our sets, sometimes we start messing around with sound effects, and we turn amps up a little louder. We sometimes play a song called ‘I Miss the Giggles.’… At shows we’ll let certain rap artists come freestyle on the song. On this Friday night, the song went on for about 15 minutes, with extended solos and various performers singing. It was getting late, probably close to midnight, and it was getting loud. The lady that lives next door – who must be in her 80s – yelled out the window from upstairs. We knew she’d be trouble when she said she called the cops when we were just setting up our equipment at five o’clock!

“In what I guess was an attempt to ask us to turn the music down, she fell down the stairs on her porch and broke her hip. The ambulance and the police came and the party ended, but not before they arrested one partygoer who was drunk and kept laughing and pointing toward the lady on the stretcher and saying, ‘I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.’ ”

Filipelli has a solo show July 5 at Yogart Café on University Avenue; Not British is scheduled to play the 710 Club on August 13.